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Google Earth, Now With Browser Goodness

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the nutritious-and-delicious dept.

Google announced this week that their Google Earth application can now be used from the browser, instead of having to download and install the desktop application. "Google also launched an JavaScript API that lets you interact with the globe, draw markers, add layers or integrate with Google Maps. 'The Google Earth Plug-in and its APIs let you embed the full power of Google Earth and its 3D rendering capabilities into your web pages.' Google LatLong blog announced that each Google Maps mashup can take advantage of the new 3D view by adding a single line of code. 'Our goal is to open up the entire core of Google Earth to developers in the hopes that you'll build the next great geo-based 3D application, and change how we view the world.'"

36 of 143 comments (clear)

  1. Google Earth wasn't sending enough data home by GigaHurtsMyRobot · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now they can connect your browsing habits with your satellite voyeurism.

  2. Why, why, why by sakdoctor · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So now it can run substantially on a (huge) plug-in inside my browser. How is this different or more convenient just because the window is wrapped in the browser.

    Seems everything must run inside the browser these days. When can I get windows vista for firefox?

    1. Re:Why, why, why by mmkkbb · · Score: 4, Informative

      You could theoretically embed this in a web page where one would use maps now.

      --
      -mkb
    2. Re:Why, why, why by commodoresloat · · Score: 5, Funny

      When can I get windows vista for firefox? It's not likely to be available for firefox, but soon you will be able to run it within emacs.
    3. Re:Why, why, why by MobyDisk · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I wonder what kinds of interesting and useful things one could do with that ability.
      - See recent places you've searched?
      - Find out where you and your friends live?
      - Access files on your hard drive?

      Sorry to sound overly skeptical, but I remember when Microsoft thought that browser plug-ins were a great idea so they made Office embeddable inside a browser. Then came 10 years of security hell.

  3. Unfortunately by gnick · · Score: 2, Informative

    Unfortunately, as with the current version of Google Earth, it does not support proxies requiring authentication... Not sure which version this changed in, but older versions work fine.

    --
    He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
  4. Not compatible with: by Andy_R · · Score: 5, Informative

    All Linux browsers
    Firefox (Macintosh)
    Safari (all platforms)
    Firefox 3 (all platforms)
    Opera (all platforms)... ... and so on

    --
    A pizza of radius z and thickness a has a volume of pi z z a
    1. Re:Not compatible with: by Colonel+Korn · · Score: 2, Interesting

      All Linux browsers
      Firefox (Macintosh)
      Safari (all platforms)
      Firefox 3 (all platforms)
      Opera (all platforms)... ... and so on I never expected to see Google release something that was (practically) IE exclusive...
      --
      "I zero-index my hamsters" - Willtor (147206)
    2. Re:Not compatible with: by Jason+Earl · · Score: 2, Insightful

      But it's still compatible with over 80% of the browsers out there ;)

      Sure, once the end user downloads a plugin.

      This new software runs on almost precisely the same number of computers as the old one, but now it has the added advantage that Microsoft can break it every time they rev their browser.

      Oh yeah, that's progress.

    3. Re:Not compatible with: by dave420 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Sure, but it also means it can be embedded in a web-page, and interfaced with via javascript. No more downloading KML files and waiting for Google Earth to load them, the webpage can directly show you what it's describing. That IS progress. Just think how useful Google Maps would be in a stand-alone application, compared to how useful it is now. The fact it can be extended using JS and presented in a web-page is how it really becomes useful. But I guess it's more fun to ignore all that and just have a pop at Microsoft, even when this is entirely Google's doing.

    4. Re:Not compatible with: by Joe+Tie. · · Score: 2, Informative

      The money they pump into mozilla?

      --
      Everything will be taken away from you.
    5. Re:Not compatible with: by TheGratefulNet · · Score: 2, Insightful

      people consider google one of THE web companies.

      yet they have LOST the notion of platform independance, at least in this case.

      the start of the true downfall of google? (nah, that was when they rated on that guy and let the chinese take that poor dissident away).

      I just can't understand why you'd write a 'web program' and also have WINDOWS CODE in it. boggle!

      the shine is wearing off the google, it seems.

      --

      --
      "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
  5. Real markers by abolitiontheory · · Score: 2, Funny

    ... that lets you interact with the globe, draw markers, add layers or integrate with Google Maps ...

    Aww crap! I thought they meant real markers! ...

    Anyone know how to get sharpie out of LCD?

    1. Re:Real markers by gstoddart · · Score: 4, Funny

      Aww crap! I thought they meant real markers! ...

      Anyone know how to get sharpie out of LCD?

      Take off and nuke the whole site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure. ;-)

      Cheers
      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    2. Re:Real markers by dotancohen · · Score: 3, Informative

      ... that lets you interact with the globe, draw markers, add layers or integrate with Google Maps ...


      Aww crap! I thought they meant real markers! ...


      Anyone know how to get sharpie out of LCD?

      Despite what the manual says, paint thinner cleans LCD monitors just fine. Make sure you put the thinner on the rag, not directly on the screen. Added advantage: the fucking glossy laptop screen is not so glossy anymore. It actually came out more uniform than I would have though had I known beforehand that it would be less glossy.
      --
      It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
  6. Web or Linux 3D SketchUp? by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 2, Interesting

    3D models for inserting into Google Earth are made with SketchUp, which is a 3D desktop studio available only for Windows, and MacOS, not Linux. When will Google finally release a Linux SketchUp, or at least include its main modeling features into the Web version?

    Or even better, when will there be a simple way to use existing (and good) Linux 3D studio tools to make standard-format datasets that are easily and completely importable into Google Earth (whether desktop or Web)?

    Hell, at this point I'd even settle for a way to import the paths in a 2D PostScript (or PDF) file into something that makes them 2D lines/areas on a 3D canvas that I can put into Google Earth, rotated and positioned for at least an idea of what a fully 3D model would look like. But to do anything like that right now, I need a Mac or a Windows machine.

    --

    --
    make install -not war

    1. Re:Web or Linux 3D SketchUp? by fotbr · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I'd be interested in any good linux 3d tools at all, but it seems the linux community is happy with blender, and doesn't seem to care that its interface is horrible (ie, the gimp syndrome -- "we want to be different, even at the cost of being good").

      IF you can tolerate blender's handicapped interface, you might be able to export into a form google earth can handle (or, as the forums will tell you "write it yourself").

    2. Re:Web or Linux 3D SketchUp? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Google Earth 3D models simply use COLLADA XML format. Sketch up just exports it for you in this way.

      A lot of 3D modeling software supports export to COLLADA, which can be used in KML (google earth).

      For Example:
      Blender
      3DS Max
      Maya

      etc...

    3. Re:Web or Linux 3D SketchUp? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=allOsEHARo8

      Blender isn't any good, you say?

    4. Re:Web or Linux 3D SketchUp? by dotancohen · · Score: 3, Insightful

      When will Google finally release a Linux SketchUp, or at least include its main modeling features into the Web version? Write to them and ask them. You cannot expect them to guess that Linux users exist if you don't contact them, can you?

      While this might not really be the case at google, you really should write to Adobe (photoshop), Intuit (quicken) and other software houses to let them know that we want their products. I make it a point to write to one every week.
      --
      It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
  7. Re:When does... by LiquidFire_HK · · Score: 3, Informative

    Google Mars already exists.

  8. Gap between this plugin w/ Virtual Earth 3D? by waded · · Score: 2, Interesting

    What's the gap between this and the existing Virtual Earth 3D plugin? http://www.google.com/earth/plugin/examples/samples/index.html vs. http://dev.live.com/virtualearth/sdk.

  9. Where on Google Earth is Carmen Sandiego? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    The Browser Edition. Come on, you know you want to make it!

  10. Nice way to max the CPU by Zerbey · · Score: 4, Funny

    Well, it went mental and spawned three processes that happily chewed up my CPU and started eating memory as a side dish. Oh, and Firefox crashed.

    It's a beta, right? ;-)

  11. exe? by Thelasko · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Who makes a Firefox plugin that's an .exe file? Seriously, Google needs to read the how to page and follow the standards.

    --
    One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
    1. Re:exe? by BitZtream · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Well, using an out of process plugin is useful for ensuring that the browser remains reliable when the plugin experiences problems and crashes. Its also useful for sharing resources between applications via the out of process process (the exe).

      Those are just 2 reasons to do it, and its likely developers at Google know slightly more about making Mozilla plugins than you seem to think considering A) they pretty much had to read that page to make the plugin anyway, B) Google contributes to the Mozilla code base and has Mozilla developers on staff, and finally C) having delt with many Google engineers, I've yet to run into a twit who has made it past the God knows how many interviews it takes to get a job there, I.E. they tend to have more than a little clue.

      Perhaps you just aren't fully aware of their goals/plans/reasoning.

      --
      Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
    2. Re:exe? by pembo13 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I think he was referring to the use of XPIs

      --
      "Thanks for all the money you paid to us. We've used it to buy off ISO among other things" -Microsoft
  12. What is a web page? by tepples · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You could theoretically embed this in a web page But then it would no longer be a web page. By your standards, YouTube is not a web page because it contains FLV video, nor is Slashdot because it contains SWF advertisements. If I have an HTML page that uses the object element to embed rich media, what makes it a "web page" or not a "web page"?
    1. Re:What is a web page? by Qzukk · · Score: 3, Insightful

      By your standards, YouTube is not a web page because it contains FLV video

      If I turn off plugins and go to this website, what do I get? The example screenshot shows Google Earth taking up the entire browser, so my guess is "a blank page" (or one begging me to install their plugin).

      I use YouTube on a fairly regular basis on my x86-64 system without the crashtastic 32-bit flash wrapper. I can see the title of the movie, links to related movies, and download the flv to watch in mplayer.

      --
      If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
    2. Re:What is a web page? by stevied · · Score: 2, Informative

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X86-64

  13. Wine by tepples · · Score: 4, Informative

    When will Google finally release a Linux SketchUp, or at least include its main modeling features into the Web version?

    Have you tried SketchUp in Wine? If you did, and it didn't work, have you submitted problem reports to the Wine team and to Google?

  14. Re:When does... by glas_gow · · Score: 2, Informative

    Google Sky also exists, although I don't know if it's new or old (I had trouble finding it).

  15. Fucking Blog Spam by street+struttin' · · Score: 5, Informative

    Try linking a real link instead. http://code.google.com/apis/earth/

  16. nice, bot too early by javy_tahu · · Score: 2, Informative

    I'm waiting for Canvas3D to stabilize. Currently there is an Opera build http://my.opera.com/timjoh/blog/2007/11/13/taking-the-canvas-to-another-dimension for Windows and Mozilla has an extension https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/7171 Google should better invest more on that Mozilla Canvas3D extension.

  17. You're all missing the point. by TomRK1089 · · Score: 2, Funny

    The real question is whether or not the flight sim easter egg is still included. :D

  18. Re:Already done in Google Maps by TheSpoom · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Brewster Jennings Protects America is pretty close.

    --
    It's better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
    - E. Debs